diff --git a/jetty-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/maven/plugin/JettyWebAppContext.java b/jetty-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/maven/plugin/JettyWebAppContext.java
index 8e765504b1e..540910e2054 100644
--- a/jetty-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/maven/plugin/JettyWebAppContext.java
+++ b/jetty-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/maven/plugin/JettyWebAppContext.java
@@ -108,14 +108,7 @@ public class JettyWebAppContext extends WebAppContext
     {
         super();
         // Turn off copyWebInf option as it is not applicable for plugin.
-        super.setCopyWebInf(false);
-        addConfiguration(new MavenWebInfConfiguration());
-        addConfiguration(new MavenMetaInfConfiguration());
-        addConfiguration(new EnvConfiguration());
-        addConfiguration(new PlusConfiguration());
-        addConfiguration(new AnnotationConfiguration());
-
-        setAttribute(QuickStartConfiguration.ORIGIN_ATTRIBUTE, "origin");
+        super.setCopyWebInf(false);        
     }
 
     public void setContainerIncludeJarPattern(String pattern)
diff --git a/jetty-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/maven/plugin/MavenQuickStartConfiguration.java b/jetty-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/maven/plugin/MavenQuickStartConfiguration.java
index 63d643a7a24..8a1e91f6cd5 100644
--- a/jetty-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/maven/plugin/MavenQuickStartConfiguration.java
+++ b/jetty-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/maven/plugin/MavenQuickStartConfiguration.java
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@ import org.eclipse.jetty.util.log.Log;
 import org.eclipse.jetty.util.log.Logger;
 import org.eclipse.jetty.util.resource.Resource;
 import org.eclipse.jetty.util.resource.ResourceCollection;
+import org.eclipse.jetty.webapp.Configuration;
 import org.eclipse.jetty.webapp.WebAppContext;
 
 /**
@@ -32,7 +33,13 @@ import org.eclipse.jetty.webapp.WebAppContext;
 public class MavenQuickStartConfiguration extends QuickStartConfiguration
 {
     private static final Logger LOG = Log.getLogger(QuickStartConfiguration.class);
-
+    
+    @Override
+    public Class<? extends Configuration> replaces()
+    {
+        return QuickStartConfiguration.class;
+    }
+    
     @Override
     public void deconfigure(WebAppContext context) throws Exception
     {
diff --git a/jetty-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/maven/plugin/NewJettyEffectiveWebXml.java b/jetty-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/maven/plugin/NewJettyEffectiveWebXml.java
index b9f6f3c88ae..668213e34b6 100644
--- a/jetty-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/maven/plugin/NewJettyEffectiveWebXml.java
+++ b/jetty-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/maven/plugin/NewJettyEffectiveWebXml.java
@@ -45,12 +45,12 @@ public class NewJettyEffectiveWebXml extends AbstractWebAppMojo
     @Override
     public void configureWebApp() throws Exception
     {
-        //TODO consider if we want to be able to generate for the unassembled webapp: so that we could
-        //bind this into a build phase, and have it generate the quickstart
-        if (StringUtil.isBlank(webApp.getWar()))
-            throw new MojoExecutionException("No war specified");
-
+        //Use a nominated war file for which to generate the effective web.xml, or
+        //if that is not set, try to use the details of the current project's 
+        //unassembled webapp
         super.configureWebApp();
+        if (StringUtil.isBlank(webApp.getWar()))
+            configureUnassembledWebApp();
     }
 
     @Override
diff --git a/jetty-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/maven/plugin/QuickStartGenerator.java b/jetty-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/maven/plugin/QuickStartGenerator.java
index d1d35137904..9fa0594ef48 100644
--- a/jetty-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/maven/plugin/QuickStartGenerator.java
+++ b/jetty-maven-plugin/src/main/java/org/eclipse/jetty/maven/plugin/QuickStartGenerator.java
@@ -117,6 +117,7 @@ public class QuickStartGenerator
         webApp.addConfiguration(new MavenQuickStartConfiguration());
         webApp.setAttribute(QuickStartConfiguration.MODE, Mode.GENERATE);
         webApp.setAttribute(QuickStartConfiguration.QUICKSTART_WEB_XML, Resource.newResource(quickstartXml));
+        webApp.setAttribute(QuickStartConfiguration.ORIGIN_ATTRIBUTE, "o");
         webApp.setCopyWebDir(false);
         webApp.setCopyWebInf(false);
     }
diff --git a/jetty-maven-plugin/src/main/resources/META-INF/services/org.eclipse.jetty.webapp.Configuration b/jetty-maven-plugin/src/main/resources/META-INF/services/org.eclipse.jetty.webapp.Configuration
index e61fe50a422..17c21d5139a 100644
--- a/jetty-maven-plugin/src/main/resources/META-INF/services/org.eclipse.jetty.webapp.Configuration
+++ b/jetty-maven-plugin/src/main/resources/META-INF/services/org.eclipse.jetty.webapp.Configuration
@@ -1,2 +1,3 @@
 org.eclipse.jetty.maven.plugin.MavenWebInfConfiguration
-org.eclipse.jetty.maven.plugin.MavenMetaInfConfiguration
\ No newline at end of file
+org.eclipse.jetty.maven.plugin.MavenMetaInfConfiguration
+org.eclipse.jetty.maven.plugin.MavenQuickStartConfiguration
\ No newline at end of file